ANC Limpopo Disgusted at Dubious Alliance to Mislead the Public

13 November 2011

The ANC in Limpopo notes the report titled *Limpopo corruption busters `paid to mislead media` *published in the Sunday Independent (13 November 2011). It is reported that `local political elites` working together with disgruntled members of the Forum of Limpopo Entrepreneurs (FOLE), Limpopo provincial government officials, and journalists have been using the media to paint ANC leaders and its ANC-led government as corrupt.

This reported incident of abuse of journalists by elites takes place when the incident of the* Cape Argus* journalist, Ashley Smith, who was used by politicians to fight their political battles, is still so fresh in our memory.

`FOLE` is a group comprising local elites who could not secure tenders. Others among the group have been blacklisted for shoddy performance. This group organised with the sole purpose of fighting the current ANC-led provincial government. These business people have no political weight allowing them the space to march en masse on the streets, as a result they collaborate with some trade union leaders and abuse the genuine COSATU and SACP anti-corruption marches to vilify the ANC provincial leadership.

In light of this revelation by *Sunday Independent*, Limpopo`s African National Congress is deeply concerned that the abuse of journalists and state officials, as well our organisations, by local business to fight the ANC-led government under the guise of fighting corruption, seems to happen unabated. However, the Limpopo ANC is not surprised by the *Sunday Independent *report.

This situation could further erode public confidence in our media and undermine the genuine efforts to fight corruption.

The ANC Provincial General Council held on 31 July 2011, at the University of Limpopo, pointed out that the media driven campaign to paint Limpopo as haven of corruption is largely driven by desperate individuals seeking to seize the ANC as a step towards capturing provincial administration for their narrow economic interests.

These business and political elites working together with bribed journalists have always conveniently ignored major achievements of the ANC-led provincial government. They continue to turn a blind eye to the fact that Limpopo is one of the few provinces that has more than five government institutions with clean audits; including blacklisting a number of poor performing contractors.

The ANC in Limpopo has always maintained that the consistent attacks on ANC provincial government must also be understood within the broader context of the forthcoming ANC provincial scheduled on 17-20 December 2011. The organisation has argued that there are forces trying to oust the current leadership in the provincial congress as a means to capture the provincial government.

Part of the tactic of this group has been to discredit of the ANC leadership through allegations of corruption with the hope that this will set political conditions for their electoral victory in the forthcoming ANC provincial congress. They use dirty tricks of vilifying fellow comrades as an electoral tactic – something that is un-ANC.

We call on all members of the ANC, genuine leaders and members of the ANC-led Alliance to remain focused on the key strategic tasks facing our people and robustly debate policy questions for the forthcoming provincial congress. We urge them not to be detracted by local political and business elites masquerading as anti-corruption activists.

Dirty political tricks have been tried before; they never worked and they shall never work in the ANC.